The Hell Screen (21 page)

“It is hard to say. The gentleman gave me a smile and a nod. He looked tired, I think. The lady was walking about. Perhaps she was nervous. I don’t know. She did not smile, and did not so much as look at me. I’m afraid that is all I can tell.”

Somewhere a bell began to ring again, high and strident. Ancho glanced over his shoulder and began to inch away.

“The bell for our noon meal, my lord,” said Eikan.

“Just a moment more,” said Akitada. “As you were on duty that evening, did you have occasion to serve another visitor who would have arrived later? He would have been in his fifties, gray-haired and thin.”

“Oh, no, sir. There were no other visitors later that night. And I don’t recall seeing anyone like the man you describe.”

So Nagaoka apparently had not followed his wife and brother. “One more thing: did any of the other guests express an interest in the lady who died?”

Ancho shook his head. “Not to my knowledge, sir.”

“Thank you. That is all. It was very good of you to think back to something which must have troubled you a great deal.”

Ancho bowed briefly and then ran. Eikan lingered behind, watching as Akitada pulled the door to the murder room shut behind him and found that it would not latch. “There is no need to lock it, my lord,” he said.

Akitada stared at the door fixedly. Then he pulled it to again, harder this time. The latch jumped into place with a loud click and the door was locked.

“It locks from the outside,” Akitada said with pleased surprise. “And that explains why Ancho and his fellow attendant have keys and why he opened the locked door with the key after knocking. He assumed it was empty and had slammed shut.”

“Of course. People sometimes slam the doors so hard that they lock by themselves.”

“But that makes all the difference,” said Akitada. “While no one could enter a locked room without a key, it was quite simple to leave a room locked. Thanks to your help, we now know that someone other than Kojiro could have killed Mrs. Nagaoka.”

Eikan looked blank. After a moment he said, “I am not sure I understand. May I ask if my lord suspects one of us?”

“Not necessarily. Someone who was in the temple or monastery the night of the murder. There were, by all accounts, many outsiders here that night. But you will miss your meal and I must continue my journey. I shall not forget your generous and invaluable assistance.”

Eikan brightened slightly. “I have time. Someone brings my food to the gate. Will you come back, my lord?”

“Perhaps. But whatever happens, I shall let you know the outcome.”

They parted company pleased with each other, and Akitada mounted his horse again and hurried back down the mountain road, anxious to make up for lost time.

Not completely lost, perhaps, for he had at least enough information now to speak again to Kobe. But there were so many uncertainties, not the least of which was the troubling person of Noami. The man seemed to be everywhere, a perpetual, ominous presence in the background.

He fell imperceptibly into glum discouragement again as he reviewed the past weeks. He was no closer to the solution of the murder of Nagaoka’s wife, at home his unforgiving mother lay dying, one of his sisters was desperately unhappy and the other had married a man under suspicion of theft from the Imperial Treasury, he himself had yet to make his report to the palace, and he had so far failed to solve even one problem.

The mood persisted until he passed through a clearing and caught a glimpse of the valley and the highway below him. At the little shack where he had stopped earlier he saw a great bustle of carts, horses, and people. A group of travelers had paused on their journey to the capital.

His eyes sharpened, and he counted. Yes, two carts with oxen and a number of horses, at least fifteen. And there, just inside the shack, he saw the blue robe of a woman, and then a man stepped out, carrying a small child on his back. They had finally come!

Giving a shout of joy, Akitada slapped his horse into a neck-breaking gallop down the road to greet his family.

* * * *

Family Matters

Their reception at the house was less than climactic. To be sure, Saburo grinned hugely when he saw his mistress again, and Yoshiko came running, brushing at her cotton gown and smoothing her hair back, but the other servants were strangers and merely peered curiously into the courtyard filled with horses, wagons, and strange men. But with the elder Lady Sugawara at death’s door, and the chanting of the monks casting a pall over the return, there was no sense of celebration.

Tamako and Yori looked well after their long journey, healthy and tanned by the sun. Yoshiko’s sickly pallor was all the more apparent by contrast.

Tamako knew about his mother’s condition from Akitada, but now asked Yoshiko for the particulars. The two women, Yoshiko with Yori in her arms, walked toward the elder Lady Sugawara’s room, while Akitada followed glumly behind. He had felt a strong urge to prevent this meeting, to protect them from the poison of his mother’s disturbed mind, but Tamako had quickly informed him that it was her duty as daughter-in-law to pay her respects and present her son. So he hung back, stopping outside the door among the chanting monks, while the women disappeared inside.

He had a long wait, which he passed in morose thought, staring down at six shaven heads and thinking of the mountain temple; the murder; the painter Noami, once a monk himself; the hell screen; and finally of his gift for Tamako. The last thought cheered him, for presenting the scroll of boy and puppies reminded him that he would soon be alone with his wife. They would have a chance to talk, make plans for the future, touch hands, and then perhaps make love.

When Tamako emerged from his mother’s room, her face drawn with distress, she was surprised to find her husband smiling at her happily, his hands extended eagerly.

“Finally,” he cried. “Come, let us go to my room. I have missed you dreadfully.”

One of the monks choked over a line, causing the chant to disintegrate and falter into silence. Six pairs of reproachful eyes were raised to Akitada. Then the oldest monk nearest the door cleared his throat and raised a hand. At his signal, they all picked up the chant again and continued.

Tamako took Akitada’s extended hand and drew him away quickly. “She is dying,” she murmured, partly in reproach and partly to express her own sadness. When they had put some distance between themselves and the monks, she added, “It cannot be long now. But she knew me, and she raised a hand to caress Yori. Only she was too weak even for that. Oh, Akitada! We returned barely in time.”

Akitada looked into his wife’s tear-filled eyes and marveled at her grief for a woman she had barely known. He knew his mother to be undeserving of such kindness. “I returned too soon,” he said harshly. “If I had taken my time, it would have saved me the knowledge that my own mother hated me enough to drive me from her presence with curses.”

“Oh, Akitada!” Tamako looked deeply distressed. “You did not tell me.”

He turned away and started walking toward his room. “I did not mean to poison your mind, too,” he said. “I stay away from her, waiting for the end, hoping it will come soon and release all of us so we can begin to live our lives like everyone else.”

He opened the door to his room. It was cold. No one had thought to bring a brazier or hot water for tea. Akiko’s luxurious quarters came to his mind, with their many glowing braziers, the silken bedding, and the cushions spread on thick straw mats and protected from drafts by screens and curtain stands.

“Forgive me,” he said, turning toward his wife. “Nothing is ready. My mind has been on other things. This is a dreadful homecoming for you.”

* * * *

For all that, they rested well that night. The following morning, the bustle of settling in began. Akitada went early to inspect the stables and greet his horses. The weather was cold, windy, and overcast, causing him anxiety. A large portion of the stables was roofless, and cold currents of air stirred up the straw spread for the animals. He gave instructions to Genba and Tora about temporary weatherproofing and blamed himself for not having taken care of this before.

When he returned to his room, he found Tamako shivering under a winter robe. “I am sorry, my dear,” he said. “My mother’s illness keeps the servants busy. And here you are in a cold room with not so much as a hot cup of tea.” He suddenly missed his son. “Where is Yori?” he asked, glancing anxiously back toward the door.

Tamako smiled a little. “Don’t fret. Yoshiko has taken him to your mother again. She seems better when she looks at him, and he does not mind being around her. And do not worry about me. Now that I am here, I shall be able to give a hand to Yoshiko, who must have had a dreadful struggle taking care of your mother and you, too. She has only one housemaid to help her, she says.”

Akitada flushed guiltily, thinking of the robe his sister had sewn for him.

“I am worried about Yoshiko,” Tamako said, unpacking clothing and draping it over clothes racks to air out.

He grimaced. “I know. Too much work, my mother’s sharp tongue, her illness, loneliness! It has been no life for a young woman of her class. I promised to find a husband for her. With a home of her own, she will soon be her own self again.”

Tamako laughed. “Oh, Akitada! It is not that simple!” Turning serious, she said, “No. There is something else. Apparently she is keeping it to herself, and that means trouble of some sort.”

Akitada cocked his head and smiled at his wife. “You are just looking for someone to dose with one of your magic potions,” he said fondly. His wife’s skill with herbal remedies had been a great boon to his family and household during the long years in the north. Even Seimei, his old friend and a family retainer, had turned over his box of salves and teas to her and concentrated instead on his new role as Akitada’s personal secretary. “It is enough that we have my mother’s illness to deal with,” he said firmly. “Yoshiko is quite well, just tired and housebound.”

Tamako went to open the shuttered doors to the overgrown garden. Cold air blew into the already chilly room. “Your mother is beyond my help.” She sighed, looking at the sad tangle of shrubs and trees.

Akitada had followed her to the door. “I have not had time to get things tidied up,” he said apologetically. The evergreen shrubs had grown to tree height, and frost-blackened weeds and choking piles of dead leaves and fallen branches covered everything else.

But Tamako smiled. “Never mind! I have always liked this room best. It gets sunlight most of the day and yet the garden is like a private world. It will be good to garden again. No more long winters and crushing snows. We shall sit on this veranda and sip tea, admiring the azaleas and camellias, peonies, and autumn chrysanthemums.” She turned to him impulsively, her eyes shining. “Oh, Akitada! It is good to be home.”

Akitada was so deeply touched by his wife’s words that he did not realize for a moment that he was about to lose the room he had always occupied, the place where he had slept and worked and found refuge from the disdainful eyes and words of his parents. Well, he would find another room if Tamako wanted this one. “You know,” he said, pulling her against him, “I was never happy in this house until now.”

Instead of answering, Tamako buried her face against his shoulder with a happy sigh. Outside, a breeze picked up a handful of brown leaves and whirled them into the air. He shivered and wrapped his arms more tightly around her. “It has turned winter early,” he said. “And there is no heat in this room. You must be cold. I wonder what happened to the servants. I have not had time to see about hiring more staff, either. Let me go get your maid and see about some tea and braziers.”

She chuckled and released him reluctantly. “It does not matter, though a cup of hot tea would be nice.”

He closed the veranda doors and went in search of the maid. Except for the distant chanting of the monks, the house seemed deserted, it was so quiet. When he went outside, he saw that the carts still stood in the courtyard only half unloaded.

In the low kitchen building he found the cook and his mother’s tall rawboned maid in eager conversation with Tamako’s dainty maidservant, satisfying their curiosity about the new mistress and Akitada’s people. Apart from a bit of a small fire under the rice steamer and a small pile of chopped vegetables on a board, there was no sign of food preparation.